Journaling Can Help to Relieve Stress
By Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D.
Feeling a little overwhelmed by the stress in your life? One easy and proven way to release your emotions - even the most frightening, painful,
or sad ones - is to write them down.
By getting your thoughts out of your head and putting them down in writing, you gain insights you’d otherwise never see.
Letting go of bottled-up feelings with pen and paper has been shown to relieve stress and ease tension.
While many people use journaling to record a personal diary of their daily thoughts and experiences, the power of journaling
goes beyond mere writing. Many therapists give journaling exercises to their clients to help relieve ongoing sources of stress. Researchers have found that ongoing
journal writing is one of best ways to process problems.
Some of the benefits of journaling include:
Solve difficult problems. Some problems are hard to resolve from a first-person viewpoint. When you disassociate through writing,
you have the opportunity to re-examine it from a third-person perspective.
Sometimes the solution will be so obvious, you'll be surprised that you didn’t see it sooner.
Achieve clarity. Journaling about problems that you're unclear about is one of the best ways to find an answer.
Should you marry your current partner? Should you find a new job?
It’s amazing how much clearer things become when you explore them in writing.
Check your progress. Journaling is a great way to evaluate progress because you can go back and re-read journal entries from the past
and see how much progress you've made.
When you first sit down to write about something, it's normal to feel anxious. Once you begin, uncomfortable feelings may initially arise.
However, continuing to write about the same problem over the course of several days or weeks often enables you to work through difficult
emotions and reach resolution or acceptance.
Consider the following before you begin:
Deeply troubling situations and events, such as domestic violence, rape, or direct exposure to acts of terrorism or war, are best
explored with a therapist. For less traumatic situations, you can probably proceed on your own and seek professional help only if you
feel you need the assistance.
If you’re basically healthy, choose the most stressful event or problem you currently have. It’s usually the one that dwell upon the most.
If you think your current problems stem from past circumstances, write about the traumatic event that started the problem.
Consider letting go of the problem as you write down what you feel and why you feel that way.
Write for yourself, not others. Don’t worry about grammar or sentence structure. If you run out of things to say in the time allotted,
feel free to repeat yourself.
If you're feeling generally disgruntled, write down a list of things you have to be grateful for. A gratitude list can include simple things
that we sometimes overlook when we're stresses out, such as a warm bed and a hot meal.
Make a commitment to write in your journal for at least 15 minutes a day a few times each week.
If you encounter resistance, remind yourself that journaling is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to accelerate your personal development.
References (To view, roll mouse over the "References" heading; to hide, click on the heading)
DeLaPaz, S. & Graham, S. (1997). Strategy instruction in planning: Effects on the writing performance and behavior of students with learning difficulties.
Exceptional Children, 63(2), 167-181.
Englert, C. S., Garmon, A. Mariage, T. Rozendal, M. Tarrant, K. & Urba, J. (1995). The early literacy project: Connecting across the literacy curriculum. Learning Disability Quarterly, 18, 253-275.
Englert, C. S., & Mariage, T. V. (1991). Shared understandings: Structuring the writing experience through dialogue. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24(6), 330-342.
Englert, C. S., Raphael, T.E., & Anderson, L.M. (1992). Socially mediated instruction: Improving students' knowledge and talk about writing. Elementary School Journal, 92, 411-449.
Exline, J. J., Baumeister, R. F. (2000). Expressing forgiveness and repentance: Benefits and barriers. In: M. E.McCullough, K. I. Pargament, & C. E. Thoresen.(Eds). Forgiveness: Theory, research and practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Fredricks, R. (2008). Healing & Wholeness: Complementary and alternative therapies for mental health. Bloomington,IN: Authorhouse.
Gersten, R. & Baker, S. (1999). Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.
Goldman, S. R., Hasselbring, T. S., & The Cognition Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1977). Achieving meaningful mathematics literacy for students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30(2), 198-208.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (1989a). Components analysis of cognitive strategy instruction: Effects on learning disabled students' compositions and self-efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 353-361.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (1989b). Improving learning disabled students' skills at composing essays: Self-instructional strategy training. Exceptional Children, 56, 201-214.
Smyth, J. M., Stone, A. A., Hurewitz, A., & Kaell, A. (1999). Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized trial. JAMA, 281, 1304-1309.
Wong, B. Y. L., Butler, D. L., Ficzere, S. A., & Kuperis, S. (1997). Teaching adolescents with learning disabilities and low achievers to plan, write and revise compare-contrast essays. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 9(2), 78-90.
Wong, B. Y. L., Butler, D. L. Ficzere, S. A., & Kuperis, S. (1996). Teaching low achievers and students with learning disabilities to plan, write, and revise opinion essays. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 20, 197-212.
San Jose Therapy Counseling Psychotherapy psychotherapist therapist
